Bosses at the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have changed the voting rules for the Academy Awards – to help make the polling for the coveted Best Picture Oscar more accurate.

The changes mean members will now be asked to rate the ten nominees in order of preference, rather than picking one outright winner.

The news comes after Academy executives extended the final shortlist from five to ten movies, starting with the 2010 ceremony.

It is hoped the new preferential voting system will help the organisation recognise “the picture that has the most support from the entire membership.”

Academy executive director, Bruce Davis, says:

“There are certain mathematical dangers with more nominees. You could really get a fragmentation to the point where a picture with 18 or 20 percent of the vote could win, and the board didn’t want that to happen.”

Let us know what you think in the comments…

The 81st Annual Academy Award winners have been announced. Check out the list:

BEST PICTURE
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“Slumdog Millionaire”
“Frost/Nixon”
“The Reader”
“Milk”

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Richard Jenkins (”The Visitor”)
Frank Langella (”Frost/Nixon”)
Sean Penn (”Milk”)
Brad Pitt (”The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”)
Mickey Rourke (”The Wrestler”)

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Anne Hathaway (”Rachel Getting Married”)
Angelina Jolie (”Changeling”)
Melissa Leo (”Frozen River”)
Meryl Streep (”Doubt”)
Kate Winslet (”The Reader”)

DIRECTING
David Fincher (”The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”)
Ron Howard (”Frost/Nixon”)
Gus Van Sant (”Milk”)
Stephen Daldry (”The Reader”)
Danny Boyle (”Slumdog Millionaire)

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Josh Brolin (”Milk”)
Robert Downey Jr. (”Tropic Thunder”)
Philip Seymour Hoffman (”Doubt”)
Heath Ledger (”The Dark Knight”)
Michael Shannon (”Revolutionary Road”)

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Amy Adams (”Doubt”)
Penelope Cruz (”Vicky Cristina Barcelona”)
Viola Davis (”Doubt”)
Taraji P. Henson (”The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”)
Marisa Tomei (”The Wrestler”)

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Baader Meinhoff Complex
Class
Departures
Revanche
Waltz With Bashir

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
“Bolt”
“Kung Fu Panda”
“Wall-E”

SCREENPLAY (Adapted)
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“Doubt”
“Frost/Nixon”
“The Reader”
“Slumdog Millionaire”

SCREENPLAY (Original)
“Frozen River”
“Happy-Go-Lucky”
“In Bruges”
“Milk”
“Wall-E”

ART DIRECTION
“Changeling”
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“The Duchess”
“Revolutionary Road”

CINEMATOGRAPHY
“Changeling”
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“The Reader”
“Slumdog Millionaire”

COSTUME DESIGN
“Australia”
”The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
”The Duchess”
”Milk”
”Revolutionary Road”

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
“The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)”
”Encounters at the End of the World”
”The Garden”
”Man on Wire”
”Trouble the Water”

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
“The Conscience of Nhem En”
”The Final Inch”
”Smile Pinki”
”The Witness — From the Balcony of Room 306″

FILM EDITING
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“Frost/Nixon”
“Milk”
“Slumdog Millionaire”

MAKEUP
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
”The Dark Knight”
”Hellboy II: The Golden Army”

MUSIC (SCORE)
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Alexandre Desplat
“Defiance” James Newton Howard
“Milk” Danny Elfman
“Slumdog Millionaire” A.R. Rahman
“WALL-E” Thomas Newman”

MUSIC (SONG)
“Down to Earth” from “WALL-E”
“Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire”
“O Saya” from “Slumdog Millionaire”

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
“La Maison en Petits Cubes”
”Lavatory — Lovestory”
”Oktapodi”
”Presto”
”This Way Up”

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
“Auf der Strecke (On the Line)”
”Manon on the Asphalt”
”New Boy”
”The Pig”
”Spielzeugland (Toyland)”

SOUND EDITING
“The Dark Knight”
“Iron Man”
“Slumdog Millionaire”
“WALL-E”
“Wanted”

SOUND MIXING
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“Slumdog Millionaire”
“‘WALL-E”
“Wanted”

VISUAL EFFECTS
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
The Dark Knight”
“Iron Man”

JEAN HERSHOLT HUMANITARIAN AWARD
Jerry Lewis

After last year’s Oscars delivered their worst TV ratings ever, producers this time say they aim to liven up the show with some surprises and new ways of presenting awards.

While some details have surfaced in the past week (the major stars could be Jack Nicholson, Angelina Jolie, George Clooney, and Kate Winslet, turned down the chance to present awards) presenters names are being kept top secret. Some stars will sneak backstage, not enter on the red carpet.

Their efforts were complicated by the fact that this year’s main Oscar contenders, led by the British-made “Slumdog Millionaire” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” starring Brad Pitt, are hardly the big box office blockbusters that tend to pull in viewers.

The host is Hugh Jackman, who has hosted Broadway’s Tony Awards three times, to emcee the Oscars for the first time.

“If I hadn’t done the Tonys, I think I’d be a lot more nervous than I am,” Jackman said.

A major criticism of the ceremony is that, at three and a half hours, it drags on too long. Jackman admitted that he hoped it could be cut shorter. But winning speeches are limited to 45 seconds!

The ceremony airing live on ABC, features a mix of fresh faces and old Oscar hands in the acting categories. Two-time winner Meryl Streep extended her record to 15 nominations, this time for best actress in “Doubt,” while other past Oscar recipients and nominees include Sean Penn (best actor for “Milk”), Kate Winslet (best actress for “The Reader”), Robert Downey Jr. (supporting actor for “Tropic Thunder”) and Philip Seymour Hoffman (supporting actor for “Doubt.”)

Newcomers include a rush of veteran performers, among them best-actress contenders Anne Hathaway (”Rachel Getting Married”) and Melissa Leo (”Frozen River”) and best-actor candidates Mickey Rourke (”The Wrestler”), Frank Langella (”Frost/Nixon”) and Richard Jenkins (”The Visitor”).

“The Dark Knight” star Heath Ledger is already considered as Oscar winner in best supporting actor category.

Past winner Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, both are nominated. She’s up for best actress in “Changeling” and he’s competing for best actor in “Benjamin Button,” which leads with 13 nominations, followed by “Slumdog” with 10.

81st Annual Academy Award Nominations

Here’s The Associated Press’ live Oscar video coverage, and E! Online’s Red Carpet video page. And here are Oscar pages on TV Guide and Yahoo, which will have plenty of video though we don’t know that it will be live.

ABC, which is broadcasting the ceremony on television, has denied us the full show live stream. Have more live links? Leave them in the comments.

Watch live video from Oscars: The 2009 Academy Awards!

One more loss and she will be tied at six as Oscar’s biggest losing actress with Deborah Kerr (nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role) – “Edward, My Son” (1949), “From Here to Eternity” (1953), “The King and I” (1956), “Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison”, (1957), “Separate Tables” (1958), “The Sundowners” (1960) and Thelma Ritter (nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role) – “All About Eve” (1950), “The Mating Season” (1951), “With a Song in My Heart” (1952), “Pickup on South Street” (1953), “Pillow Talk” (1959) and “Birdman of Alcatraz” (1962).

Winslet, has already picked up two Golden Globes for her role as a German woman with a teenage lover and a secret in “The Reader” and as a frustrated 1950s American housewife in “Revolutionary Road.” She has also won BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild Awards, and in emotional speeches, she has expressed shock at her wins after smiling bravely from her seat so often in the past.

The betting in Hollywood ahead of the February 22, 2009 ceremony for the world’s top film awards is that Winslet should be getting her acceptance speech ready.

“I think it is her time. When Academy members are voting, they are going to be thinking not just of “The Reader” but of “Revolutionary Road,” said Hollywood.com movie critic Pete Hammond, when talking about the two movies starring Winslet that were released within weeks of each other in 2008. “That is pretty daunting when you have two great performances like that back to back,” Hammond said.

The four other best actress nominees are Anne Hathaway as a resentful sister in “Rachel Getting Married,” Melissa Leo in border smuggling drama “Frozen River,” Angelina Jolie playing a mother searching for her child in “Changeling” and Meryl Streep for her role in “Doubt.”

“Kate has a solid lead. She is in a Holocaust movie, speaking with a foreign accent, she ages dramatically and she looks great naked – all key elements for a win,” said Tom O’Neil of awards website TheEnvelope.com.

Leading the 81st Annual Academy Awards nominations list is “The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button” with 13 nominations – Best picture, Performance by an actor in a leading role (Brad Pitt), Performance by an actress in a supporting role (Taraji P. Henson), Directing (David Fincher), Adapted screenplay, Art direction, Cinematography, Costume design, Film editing, Makeup, Sound mixing, Visual effects and Original score.

“Slumdog Millionaire” has 10 nominations – Best picture, Directing (Danny Boyle), Adapted screenplay, Cinematography, Film editing, Original score, Original song – “Jai Ho,” Original song – “O Saya,” Sound editing and Sound mixing.

Heath Ledger got a postmortem nomination on the one-year anniversary of his tragic death for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the Joker in “The Dark Knight,” so including this, Performance by an actor in a supporting role, the movie has 8 nominatons – Art direction, Cinematography, Film editing, Makeup, Sound editing, Sound mixing and Visual effects.

“Wall-E” has six, “Frost/Nixon” “Doubt” and “The Reader” five, but “Gran Torino” “Che” “I’ve Loved You So Long” not getting any major nominations.

“Vicky Cristina Barcelona” only scoring a nomination for Penelope Cruz and “In Bruges” only getting a screenplay nomination!?

Take a look at the complete list:

BEST PICTURE
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“Slumdog Millionaire”
“Frost/Nixon”
“The Reader”
“Milk”

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Richard Jenkins (”The Visitor”)
Frank Langella (”Frost/Nixon”)
Sean Penn (”Milk”)
Brad Pitt (”The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”)
Mickey Rourke (”The Wrestler”)

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Anne Hathaway (”Rachel Getting Married”)
Angelina Jolie (”Changeling”)
Melissa Leo (”Frozen River”)
Meryl Streep (”Doubt”)
Kate Winslet (”The Reader”)

DIRECTING
David Fincher (”The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”)
Ron Howard (”Frost/Nixon”)
Gus Van Sant (”Milk”)
Stephen Daldry (”The Reader”)
Danny Boyle (”Slumdog Millionaire)

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Josh Brolin (”Milk”)
Robert Downey Jr. (”Tropic Thunder”)
Philip Seymour Hoffman (”Doubt”)
Heath Ledger (”The Dark Knight”)
Michael Shannon (”Revolutionary Road”)

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Amy Adams (”Doubt”)
Penelope Cruz (”Vicky Cristina Barcelona”)
Viola Davis (”Doubt”)
Taraji P. Henson (”The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”)
Marisa Tomei (”The Wrestler”)

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Baader Meinhoff Complex
Class
Departures
Revanche
Waltz With Bashir

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
“Bolt”
“Kung Fu Panda”
“Wall-E”

SCREENPLAY (Adapted)
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“Doubt”
“Frost/Nixon”
“The Reader”
“Slumdog Millionaire”"

SCREENPLAY (Original)
“Frozen River”
“Happy-Go-Lucky”
“In Bruges”
“Milk”
“Wall-E”

ART DIRECTION
“Changeling”
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“The Duchess”
“Revolutionary Road”

CINEMATOGRAPHY
“Changeling”
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“The Reader”
“Slumdog Millionaire”

COSTUME DESIGN
“Australia”
”The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
”The Duchess”
”Milk”
”Revolutionary Road”

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
“The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)”
”Encounters at the End of the World”
”The Garden”
”Man on Wire”
”Trouble the Water”

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
“The Conscience of Nhem En”
”The Final Inch”
”Smile Pinki
”The Witness — From the Balcony of Room 306″

FILM EDITING
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“Frost/Nixon”
“Milk”
“Slumdog Millionaire”

MAKEUP
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
”The Dark Knight”
”Hellboy II: The Golden Army”

MUSIC (SCORE)
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Alexandre Desplat
“Defiance” James Newton Howard
“Milk” Danny Elfman
“Slumdog Millionaire” A.R. Rahman
“WALL-E” Thomas Newman”

MUSIC (SONG)
“Down to Earth” from “WALL-E”
“Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire”
“O Saya” from “Slumdog Millionaire”

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
“La Maison en Petits Cubes”
”Lavatory — Lovestory”
”Oktapodi”
”Presto”
”This Way Up”

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
“Auf der Strecke (On the Line)”
”Manon on the Asphalt”
”New Boy”
”The Pig”
”Spielzeugland (Toyland)”

SOUND EDITING
“The Dark Knight”
“Iron Man”
“Slumdog Millionaire”
“WALL-E”
“Wanted”

SOUND MIXING
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“Slumdog Millionaire”
“‘WALL-E”
“Wanted”

VISUAL EFFECTS
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
The Dark Knight”
“Iron Man”

As we know Oscar season is approaching and Parmount Pictures are pushing their reminder of Downey’s work in “Tropic Thunder” who underwent a controversial procedure in order to play the role of the gritty black sergeant Lincoln Osiris. Check out one of the ads below which is great.

Movie critics were not so thrilled by Clint Eastwood’s “Changeling,” but numerous early reviews of “Gran Torino” put Eastwood’s second movie in 2008 into Oscar consideration.

In “Gran Torino” Eastwood plays Walt Kowalski, an iron-willed veteran living in a changing world, who is forced by his immigrant neighbors to confront his own long-held prejudices.

“Gran Torino” is directed by Clint Eastwood from the script Nick Schenk with story assistance from Dave Johannson.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Warner Brothers has scheduled a limited December 17th 2008 release for “Gran Torino.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

For trailers, posters and more movie info go to “Gran Torino” FF Movie Page

In addition to running their ad on the cover of Variety, the studio also bought two full page ads in the magazine, one for Ledger and one for “The Dark Knight” to win Best Picture.

You can visit the studio’s “For Your Consideration” website, to see every award that Warner Bros is hoping “The Dark Knight” will win.

Other possible contenders for Best Supporting actor are Brad Pitt (”Burn After Reading“), Robert Downey Jr. (”Tropic Thunder“) and Philip Seymour Hoffman (”Doubt“).

Despite the low budget constraints of the production, the filmmakers and casting agent Nikki Barrett decided to aim high with the casting of the puppet’s voices. Sending the script out to a number of internationally acclaimed Australian actors, the filmmakers were gratified by the response.

“Actors just wanted to be part of this project. We ended up with a fantastic cast…our dream list of actors to play the roles,” said the producer Emile Sherman.

Departing from the more usual practice in the animation industry of recording voice performances in isolation from each other, director Rosenthal preferred to record the actors in the configurations they appeared in the script.

“I insisted on getting everybody together in the booth. This became possible because we required them for such a short time. As a first-time director I needed to have that immediate sense of whether a scene was going to work. I didn’t want to imagine it. I wanted to hear it.”

Producer Sherman elaborates:

“One of the most interesting aspects of the production was having Anthony LaPaglia and Geoffrey Rush in a studio in LA and a number of the actors in Australia in our Sydney studio, crossing live via the internet, and in this way, recording the voices together.” In this way, $9.99’s entire voice recordings were made in three days.

Have you ever wondered “What is the meaning of life? Why do we exist?” The answer to this vexing question is now within your reach! You’ll find it in a small yet amazing booklet, which will explain, in easy to follow, simple terms your reason for being! The booklet, printed on the finest paper, contains illuminating, exquisite colour pictures, and could be yours for a mere $9.99.”

This is the ad that alters the life of the unemployed 28 year old who still lives at home, Dave Peck. In his struggle to share his find with the world, Dave’s surreal path crosses with those of his unusual neighbours: an old man and his disgruntled guardian angel, a magician in debt, a bewitching woman who likes her men extra smooth, a broken hearted man who befriends a group of hard partying two inch tall students, and a little boy who sets his piggy bank free. Their stories are woven together, examining the post-modern meaning of hope.

“$9.99″ voiced by Geoffrey Rush (The Angel / Homeless Man), Anthony LaPaglia (Jim Peck), Samuel Johnson, Claudia Karvan, Joel Edgerton, Barry Otto, Leanna Walsman, Ben Mendelson, Jamie Katsamatsas and Brian Meagan is set to open on December 12, 2008.

Under the rules for this category, a maximum of 3 films can be nominated in a year in which the field of eligible entries numbers at least 8 but fewer than 16. Films submitted in the Animated Feature Film category also may qualify for Academy Awards in other categories, including Best Picture, provided they meet the requirements for those categories.

The 14 submitted features are:

• Bolt
• Delgo
• Horton Hears a Who!
• Dragon Hunters
• Fly Me to the Moon
• Igor
• Kung Fu Panda
• Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
• $9.99
• The Sky Crawlers
• Sword of the Stranger
• The Tale of Despereaux
• WALL-E
• Waltz with Bashir

The 81st Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Thursday, January 22nd 2009.

Source: The official site for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences decided politics takes precedence, announcing Monday that it has delayed the nominations announcement by two days.

Oscar nominees are usually revealed on a Tuesday about four weeks before the big show, which is typically held the last Sunday in February. For 2009, though, the targeted Tuesday, Jan. 20, is Inauguration Day.

“It didn’t make any sense for us to try to compete with (the inauguration) from a news point of view,” academy Executive Administrator Ric Robertson told The Associated Press.

“Ballots are due Jan. 12, and nominations are announced 10 days later, so that’s getting pretty close to the minimum,” he said. “The most critical path is the balloting-voting process. Since we remain committed, for security reasons, to paper balloting, and all Pricewaterhouse Coopers tabulating is done by hand, it’s not done by computers. … They can turn things around quickly but they still need time.”

The 2009 presidential inauguration isn’t the first event that prompted the academy to alter its calendar. The Oscar show was moved from the last Sunday in February in 2006 so it wouldn’t conflict with the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics, Robertson said.

So the 81st annual Oscar nominees will be revealed Thursday, Jan. 22, and the Academy Awards will be presented Sunday, Feb. 22, the earliest Oscars ever.

Update:

Oscar 2009 Nominations